FOXBORO - The Patriots kept loading up on front-seven help Friday night takingArkansas edge defender Jake Bequette.
Bequette had 10 sacks last year for the Razorbacks and forced five fumbles. At6-4, 264, he becomes another arrow in the quiver of Bill Belichick's morphingdefense.
"I can't tell you how excited I was when I got the phone call,"Bequette said on a conference call Friday night.
Bequette, 23, said he had contact with the Pats at the Senior Bowl and Combineand also at a visit down in Arkansas.
"I got a great feeling from them and I guess I really impressedthem," said Bequette, the 90th overall pick.
The addition of Bequette may at first seem redundant since the Patriots alreadytook Syracuse defensive end Chandler Jones and Alabama linebacker Dont'aHightower who has edge ability as well. But the Patriots defense istransforming away from having fatties up front all in a row to usingtweener-types in myriad deployments.
Asked if he felt comfortable at either OLB or DE, Bequette said, "I feelvery comfortable at both. That's kind of the stock answer but it's true. I'veplayed the 4-3 end mostly in college but I also stood up and did the outsidelinebacker position at the Senior Bowl and Combine. The more I did it the moreit grew on me so I feel very comfortable in both and I can't wait to see whatthe coaches have in store for me."
New England Patriots
What did the Patriots stress?
"It was quite a bit of both," he revealed. "They wanted to seefirst of all my pass-rushing ability, my get-off out of my three-point stancebut also quite a bit of two-point work, working out in coverage, covering tospot drops and doing everything with the linebacker position as well."
He understands what's going to be asked of him generally at the pro level.
"Every Sunday I would turn on NFL games and it seems half the teams in theleague now are running a 3-4 kind of hybrid defense or a 4-3," he said."I know New England is very flexible. You watch certain players who standup or play in a three-point stance on passing downs and I'm very excited. Ifthat's what the coaches want me to do than I'm willing to do it."
Being at Arkansas during the Bobby Petrino era, I felt it incumbent to find outhow close he was with the shamed coach. Ever taken a ride on the back of hismotorcycle?
"Fortunately I was never extended that invitation," Bequette saidwith a laugh.